Headlines
Maharashtra ACB searches homes, offices of Bhujbals
Mumbai, June 16
A Special Investigation Team of
Maharashtra's Anti-Corruption Bureau on Tuesday carried out searches at
16 offices/homes belonging to senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, his
son Pankaj and nephew Sameer.
The former deputy chief minister's Nationalist Congress Party cried "vendetta" on the searches.
The
searches were carried out at their homes and offices in Mumbai, Navi
Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nashik, an official of the ACB said here.
These
include seven residences and offices in Mumbai, a bungalow in Thane,
commercial premises in Navi Mumbai, three farmhouses and two bungalows
in Nashik, a flat in Pune and a bungalow on a 65-acre plot with a
helipad in Lonavala.
The searches followed offences registered by
the ACB in the past few weeks against the Bhujbals and 14 others for
corruption and amassing wealth and assets beyond their known sources of
income.
Following complaints, the ACB lodged FIR against Bhujbal
and son Pankaj, both legislators, and nephew Sameer, a former MP, for
alleged irregularities in awarding the contract to construct the
Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi.
Last year, following the Bombay
High Court directive on a Public Interest Litigation, the ACB formed the
SIT to investigate the contract and other cases, including allotment of
a plot of land in Kalina to a realtor.
The Nationalist Congress
Party (NCP) rallied behind the Bhujbals and said the party would
challenge these actions in the court of law, senior party leader
Madhukar Pichad said and termed the SIT operations an "act of vendetta".
Co-accused
in these cases are Arun Devdhar, Gita Joshi, Iram Shaikh, Devdutt
Marathe, Bipin Sankhe, Krishna Chamankar, Prasanna Chamankar, Pranita
Chamankar, Pravin Chamankar, Tanveer Shaikh, Sanjay Joshi, Manik Shah,
Deepak Deshpande and Anil Gaikwad.